Uhmmmm no. Ryzom was not a faction game "from day one". Factions are a late addition. The player base has never recovered from this introduction. Neutral is not a 3rd faction, it is the "anti faction". The lore provides a basis for faction conflict. More importantly it provides for uniting of all the peoples of Atys against the common kitin threat. The "big thing" about Ryzom during "design" and development was the RAID engine. The unique ability to handle mass kitin raids and still the best fun one can have at a keyboard.danolt wrote:The rise of a third faction would require some pretty significant changes to the back story and cultures of the present factions and nationalities. Somehow a third faction would have to gain the ability to respawn and teleport Homins. If these abilities become Homin controlled then the existing factions become pointless.
Ryzom was designed as a two faction game. The story has already been outlined and it is quite possible that given time and/or new worlds dozens of new factions could arise. To arbitrarily add a new faction at this point, might as well add undead and orcs.
Within the existing game there is just no room for a third faction to develop without completely abandoning the storyline, themes and plot that brought us to this point. Also a third "official" faction still means two factions as far as PvP goes. Eventually, and most likely very quickly, two factions would ally against the 3rd.
If it makes sense and fits in with the existing story I am all for adding anything. I hope that GF will continue to listen to what the players want but will be guided by the original vision of the game and not cave into the desires of the 3% of players who are vocal on the boards.
Please do not abandon the Saga. Ryzom is known for its story. I like this game because I play a character in a complicated world. There are rarely comfortable or easy choices here and that is very, very uncommon in an MMO. I do not think GF can successfully market this game on graphics and skill sets. It is the story that makes Ryzom attractive, abandon that and I think most folks will go to a game that has much larger resources.
Neutrals don't need to be a faction. The existing lore provides for it to exist. What doesn't exist is the game mechanics since factions were introduced. I was a Scoutmaster for a troop nased at a Synagogie, I'm not Jewesih. I was a Little League director for a Church League, I'm not Christian. My own "faith" had nothing to do with whether or not these organizations accepted my help. As a director I was afforded access to any "benefits" that other volunteers had who were mebers of the religious institution.
Ryzom can do the same. Don't the kami and kara want the same thing ? Don't MakDuk and Jena want homins to prevail against the kitins ? So why can't "neutrals" earn the benefits offered by Jena and MakDuk without shaving their heads, whipping themselves, wearing funny hats, being celibate or any other "worship" stuff ?
One way that might be good is to set the fame limit to 100. Let anyone's combined kami and kara fame be 100. So I could be 75/25....100/0....or 50/50. And set the TP requirement to 51. Make it so that if you have both kara and kami tickets in bag then the ONLY ones that work iare the ones where ya fame is above 50.
Make the OP mat plans so that they can use 2 kara mats, 2 kami mats or 1 of each. Or how about letting neutral guilds build camps at OP's where they would act as hired defense mercs and thereby share on the OP's production ? Or how about letting them man OPs near PR portals so that they can defend against the kitin threats.....wouldn't Jena and Makduk "pay" for homins to protect their followers regardless of what "robe they wore" or which direction they faces on payer day ?
There's plant of room in the lore for an anti faction to exist.
